The hardest places in the country to grow up have been revealed in a report which also claims children are being 'radically failed'.

In a bleak account of the hardships facing England's youth, Middlesbrough came out as the toughest area to be a child - just months after the town descended into anarchy following an alleged joyride crash which killed seven people.

The most comprehensive data analysis of its kind laid bare the 'Dickensian' inequalities present in some of the country's least privileged places, with Hounslow in west London, Bradford in West Yorkshire and Nottingham in the East Midlands, following close behind.

Children in England are facing a national 'emergency' according to the report by Dame Rachel de Souza, the Children's Commissioner for England, which analysed 162 measures of children's lives, including health, education and crime figures.

It painted a picture of rampant inequality, blighting the life prospects of young people in left-behind areas while privileged places, like Cheshire East in the North West and  Surrey in the South East, offered easier childhoods.

The report, set to be published tomorrow, found some 12 per cent of young people feel unsafe in their local area and at least one million children had active referrals to mental health services last year - one of many alarming discoveries the study made.

Meanwhile, more than half of pupils do not achieve a good standard in their English and maths GCSEs at the age of 16.

And a third of children in England are not deemed 'school ready' by the time they reach Reception.

In a speech tomorrow, Dame Rachel will say she wants to 'shine a light on where children need the most rigorous attention'.

She will add: 'Every single local area in England has work to do to make lives better for their children.

'In some communities, these challenges amount to nothing less than a state of emergency.

'Not everywhere. But what we see here is a litany of failure. In so many areas of the country, children are being radically failed.'

Dame Rachel's team found the toughest areas to be a child using 96 metrics to allocate scores to local authorities.

They found children in Blackpool, Lancashire, are 27 times more likely to be missing from education than pupils in Lambeth, south London.

They were also 46 times more likely to be excluded than children from Wiltshire.

The proportion of children who get a good pass (grade 5 or above) in their English and maths GCSEs ranges from 70 per cent in Richmond upon Thames to 31 per cent in Knowsley, near Liverpool.

These two areas were also the best and the worst in the country for having fun activities for children – with 93 per cent of children in Richmond upon Thames saying they had this, compared with 72 per cent in Knowsley.

When it came to access to libraries, Westmorland and Furness in Cumbria performed best, while Sunderland in Tyne and Wear performed worst.

Almost a quarter of children in Croydon, south London, said they felt unsafe, compared with less than 7 per cent of those in Bedford.

The number of children living in temporary accommodation varied from one per 10,000 in Hartlepool, County Durham, to 1,169 per 10,000 in Westminster, London.

Cheshire East scored best overall – 730 out of 960 possible points – partly due to low rates of children in temporary accommodation, little school absence and high vaccination and dental care uptake.

Middlesbrough scored lowest – 408 out of a total of 960 possible points – partly due to a large proportion of children feeling unsafe, high levels of school absence and exclusion, poor development in early primary school and few public playgrounds.

The data came from the Department for Education and ten other public bodies.

Dame Rachel called on the Prime Minister Andy Burnham to create a children's emergency fund to bring services above a minimum standard in every part of the country.

A deputy mayor should be appointed in each area as part of the devolution programme to tackle the issue, she said.

Education Secretary Lucy Powell said: 'We're investing and reforming at every stage of a child's journey, from more childcare support for their earliest years and higher standards in our schools, broader community support with the rollout of our National Youth strategy and Young Future hubs, to more training and job opportunities as they approach adulthood.

'Alongside that, I'm bringing local leaders together to help shape the future of education in their areas. We're putting more power in their hands to deliver.'

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